Cranston
|gender = Male |job = Medical examiner |status = Alive |actor = Cornell Womack |first appearance = "There's No Place Like Home" }} M.E. Cranston (first name unrevealed) is a minor recurring character who appears in Seasons Seven and Eleven on Criminal Minds. Background Very little is known about Cranston's personal life. According to him, he was from New York and spent four years in medical school. He was later stationed in Wichita, Kansas, as a local medical examiner. Cranston has shown members of the BAU the bodies of victims whenever they investigate cases that are conveniently located near Wichita. There's No Place Like Home Cranston escorts Rossi and Reid into the morgue, which is packed with the bodies of people killed in a recent tornado outbreak. He shows them the bodies of Jason Meredith and Eric Genelle, victims of the delusional, storm-chasing serial killer Travis James. He tells them that he became convinced they weren't killed by the tornadoes because of their identical head wounds, which could have been caused by bludgeoning. He also confirms Reid's remark that alcohol and dextromethorphan, a type of cough medicine, was found in their systems. Then, Cranston informs them that most of their injuries were caused by the tornadoes, but that their missing limbs were chopped off by a bladed weapon. All the while, he idly eats a sandwich, clearly unfazed by the gruesome sight of the bodies. The Sandman Years later, Cranston reunites with Reid and is introduced to Lewis while showing them the bodies of Jim and Lyla Brewer, a couple killed by Patrick Sorenson. When Lewis asks about Reid's familiarity with Cranston, they tell her about the Travis James case, with Cranston remarking it was "one for the books". He explains Jim and Lyla's respective causes of death and points out the higher amount of macrophages found on Lyla's glued eyes compared to that of Jim's. This indicated that Jim's eyes were glued shut after he was killed. Notes *Cranston is the sixth of only nine characters in a medical profession to appear more than once in the show's history. The others are: **Season Two ***Tony Wilson ("The Big Game") - Reappears in the Season Ten episode "The Itch". **Season Six ***Doctor Samuel Bayo ("Sense Memory") - Reappears in the Season Eleven episode "A Badge and a Gun" and later in the Season Fourteen episode "Broken Wing". ***Doctor Sherman ("Valhalla" and "Supply and Demand") ***Doctor Ray Mathis ("The Stranger") - Reappears in the Season Eight episode "The Pact". **Season Seven ***Doctor Stacey Carroll ("Epilogue") - Reappears in the Season Eight episode "The Fallen". **Season Eight ***Doctor Weiss ("The Replicator") - Reappears in the Season Ten episodes "Fate", "Nelson's Sparrow", and "The Hunt". Then she reappears in the Season Thirteen episode "All You Can Eat". **Season Nine ***Doctor Taylor ("The Return") - Reappears in the Season Thirteen episode "The Dance of Love". ***Doctor Pat Lewis ("The Inspiration") - Reappears in the Season Eleven episode "Awake". Appearances *Season Seven **"There's No Place Like Home" *Season Eleven **"The Sandman" Category:Criminal Minds Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Medical Examiners Category:Minor Characters